MGCC’s Loan Fund available MA family farms and small businesses to help recover from historic drought conditions

BOSTON – Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC) announced the extension of the drought loan fund to help small businesses impacted by last year’s historic drought conditions. The new deadline to apply for drought assistance has been extended to March 31, 2017. Despite the recent weather and precipitation, farm related businesses continue to struggle from the drought and may apply to MGCC to help regain financial stability and recover from lost revenue.

MGCC will make up to $1 million in loan funds available to provide micro-loans of $5,000 to $10,000 to farms located in communities impacted by the drought, particularly those in severely hit counties.

“We’ve realized how big of an impact this drought has had with family farms and related businesses, and more importantly that the need for assistance carries through the winter months,” said Larry Andrews, President of MGCC. “We’re very pleased to be able to continue working with families and small businesses and provide assistance where it’s needed most.

Commenting on the drought and value of the loan, Jeremy Barker Plotkin and David Tepfer, Co-Owners of Simple Gifts Farm in Amherst said, “I’ve never seen a year this dry. We pumped our well dry, fried the pump, and it was pretty expensive to get it fixed. That hurt us on the cost side. We were in pretty serious cash flow problems. The loan helped us get caught up on bills.”

To watch a short video of how Simple Gifts Farm has been helped by the Drought Loan Fund, please visit www.massgcc.com. MGCC’s website also has more information on the Fund, including an online application.

MGCC will be responsible for funding the loan, managing the loan portfolio, collection of interest and principal payments and all decision-making regarding loan approval.

Background

MGCC works with traditional financial institutions to make challenging loans bankable, working with community development corporations and other non-profits to provide financing for job-producing projects, and assisting a wide range of small businesses find the growth capital they require. MGCC specifically targets manufacturers that are expanding, other growth sectors, and small businesses in our older Gateway Cities. Since inception, MGCC has assisted more than 263 companies with over 9,100 employees with customized working capital financing commitments totaling over $83,800,000. http://massgcc.com